WTF is the deal with US states banning masks? Are they going to ban washing your hands next?
Are they going to ban washing your hands next?
Washing your hands removes vital oils used by forensics to identify you at a crime scene.
/s
“if you haven’t committed a crime then you have nothing to worry about!”
-some republican who has committed a litany of crimes
They’re not banning masks for the KKK, if that helps understand their thinning…
The point is to inflict suffering. So yeah, I wouldn’t put it past Republicunts.
The non quippy answer:
Wearing masks other than theatrical or things like Halloween masks was prohibited in many places prior to covid.
Some places were explicitly anti protest from the 1900s (unions), others anti hate crime (KKK). Some just had it as a thing that can be tacked on to other crimes. My state has a law that makes it a misdemeanor to wear a mask to conceal your identity while commiting a crime.
These laws are not unique to the US.When covid came along, most states that had restrictions passed laws adding exceptions for health related face coverings.
In response to people protesting Israeli actions in Palestine, North Carolina repealed their relaxation of the mask rules, and refused to add a health clause, arguing that even though it’s illegal, it was illegal before covid and just never enforced, so it’s fine.
They also included an exception that allows for secret societies to wear masks or hoods in a parade or demonstration if they have a permit. That’s the KKK in a nutshell.It’s preposterous bullshit intended to work as an election year headline grabber, since it’s anti mask, anti protester, and pro Israel all at once.
“But, muh freedoms”
The mask ban is happening because of the Gaza protests
So it has bipartisan support, then?
They’ll ban toilet paper and cleaning up after you go. Touching your ass is so gay
And “bidet” sounds French.
Don’t forget they’re trying to end free school meals for poor families too!
They are trying to undo agency la wholesale. As in completely remove all corporate and industrial regulations through removal of the EPA, FAA, FDA, USDA, ect. Through plan 2025 they will undo life as we know it and send us back to the beginning of the labor movement in America.
The Republican mentality is that the constitution should be the sole governing document of America. No government agencies or regulation. It’s an unhinged, uneducated plan that will kill us all.
It’s an unhinged, uneducated plan that will kill us all.
Didn’t you mean to say it will make us GREAT again??? Lol
spoiler
sdfsaf
Lemme guess - the state’s representation is gerrymandered six ways from Sunday, all the people who could possibly be Democratic voters were tossed off the rolls about 30 minutes before the vote, and there’s only one ballot drop off point in the biggest urban area. Right?
Did they also outlaw giving out water in long voting lines too? Cause that one’s extra special.
spoiler
sdfsaf
Two of the three of these feel like nothing in the face of our broken healthcare industry. Mind you these 1/300th steps ARE THE COMPROMISE.
Id like to see meaningful change before I die pls. This rate wont cut it.
Then fucking vote. Convince your friends to vote. Voting is what changes this.
There’s a bit of a pattern of half-measures here.
Like, the last time democrats had the executive and legislature, we got the Affordable Healthcare Act – which, yeah did help some people. But didn’t change any of the underlying rot in our healthcare - 12 years on, we’re still having the same conversations about the same problems.
Vote, it’s the least that can be done. But don’t kid yourself about what that does. Our problems require far more, far more citizen participation and far more work than merely voting.
Yeah it did help some people? It still continues to help a bunch of people and was change so impactful that now, Even republican voters don’t want it repealed.
Half measures is the only thing Democrats can pass with the limited power that they have. That didn’t even have a full 2 years in control of the executive and legislative branch when the ACA was passed, with some Democrats being very conservative. the only way to get the law passed was by getting all members to agree, including the most conservative Members. The public option in particular was one of the things removed from the ACA because of conservative dissent.
Yeah it did help some people?
It helped insurance companies. The uninsured rate is super low these days but tons of people still can’t afford premiums and our of pocket costs and skip healthcare anyway
with some Democrats being very conservative
And whenever people try to call out conservative Democratic party members for screwing things up they get shouted down in comment threads just like these
One of The pointa of the ACA was to force insurance companies to allow people with preexisting conditions the ability to not get denied by insurances. insurances hate covering people you know will be sick, and love healthy people. they were not happy with this change.
I agree the problems you said need to be resolved still, but that’s for Congress to address now or whenever. Hopefully soon. The ACA wasn’t a bill to help lower rates across the board.
And whenever people try to call out conservative Democratic party members for screwing things up they get shouted down in comment threads just like these
I don’t like conservative Democrats, but I love them more than Republican politicians because they help more. I enjoy progressive Democrats more than both. Can’t speak for other people on Lemmy.
You can’t do something radical when there’s a very real chance of losing the next election. C’mon, this is easy.
So how do you convince them they have leeway? By them consistently winning.
Are you certain of that? In a country where half of the population consistently, chronically, for decades, doesn’t vote?
Every election brings with it the chance of loosing. Seems to me that something radical is what tips the scales. What gets that checked out population to sit up and take notice. Play too conservatively (with a lowercase ‘c’), and they stay checked out.
Am I certain that consistent, overwhelming victories for say 20 years will mean that they can implement policies that are further left? Fucking yes. Come the fuck on.
You win elections from the center. The center (the Overton window) moves by who wins elections over time. This is why we’re having idiotic right wing discussions about disbanding the EPA - because Trump won an election. He won one, so the whole spectrum moved right. If he hadn’t won, we wouldn’t be having these discussions. C’mon this is so fucking easy.
The Overton window is a cultural measurement, not a tally of recent political victories. It is a range determined by our media and our history, the sum of what people talk and think about, what they experience in the political economic and artistic worlds. It is a crude way of describing what is collectively believed to be possible. The spectrum doesn’t just shift to the right because “conservatives won”, it shifted to the right before Trump won – that’s how he was able to win. And the preceding administration played a big role in that shift.
After the recession, people felt like they had been left behind. The banks and the auto manufactures got a huge bailout, but there was very little help for the individuals and families caught in the downturn. Nearly all the economic growth through the recovery was happening for top earners, not median households. People’s lived experiences didn’t match the story of recovery that was described in the news and by politicians…
…which is why Trump’s victory caught so many established Democrats off guard. They didn’t notice the window shift, they thought it was still the same place it was four years ago when Obama won his second term.
…with everything that has happened recently, I have this dreadful sense of the familiar. Young people see lives being taken in Palestine and are angry. Old people see us lurching toward another conflict in the Middle East and are weary. Everyone is grumbling about the price of groceries. Democratic leadership keeps insisting that things are fine and actually getting better. Does that seem like a recipe for consistent, overwhelming victory?
Dude this is so simple. Where is the Overton window because of Trump’s victory? It’s fucking off the cliff right because of Trump’s victory. There are conversations taking place now that would have been unimaginable before Trump won. And they are taking place because Trump won.
We can even play the hypothetical. Where would it be if Hillary Clinton won? Fucking easy, it would be further left. Or the hypothetical what it Trump won a second term? Fucking easy again, it would be even further right - because all his rhetoric would be backed up with wins that this is what the people want.
To talk like the Overton window is not affected by election wins is sticking your head in the sand. It’s literally a referendum on what is and what is not acceptable policy and talking points be it social, economic, thinly belief racism, everything. This is so fucking easy to see.
No, no, I have been assured that 90% of the American electorate is secretly super far-left and just waiting for someone who is Radical Enough for their tastes.
Definitely it’s not that when you speak to average American voters, even the leftmost 20% looks like a fucking conservative compared to the Fediverse.
No, it’s that they’re Just Waiting.
But but but Biden had control for two whole years! And we don’t have the Jetsons’ lifestyle! Why can’t they get their act together and do something??? (/s)
I know it’s sarcasm, but I think people would have been a lot more cool with Biden if the accomplishments were more spread out. Yeah, a lot of really great stuff has happened in the last three months, but now it looks like pandering instead of a culmination of effort. Not to mention, most of it is being buried under Israel’s genocide, making it easy for disconnected voters to miss the recent good news and just remember all the old nothing that happened for the past 3 years.
Are you of the opinion that these things happen really quickly? Because they don’t. That they’re all coming due is about right.
Pandering? GTFO.
R doesn’t even take legislative action that helps their own voters. Meanwhile, all the shit they fight against Dems doing would help plenty of R voters, too. Their entire platform is taking things away from people, culture wars, vilification of education, and making voting as difficult as possible.
If you are voting R at this point, it can be for no reason other than one or more of these labels applies to you: Bigot, Unrepentant Misogynist, or can’t think any further than your own team winning.
Pic unrelated, because they didn’t just allow, they helped. They insisted.
The one that says
This Year’s Ballot:
___ Fascism
___ Snooze (4 years)
sums it up.
I wish. There is no reason a country’s leadership should be exciting or dramatic. Get on with doing your job
It’s actually quite crazy to see the amount of change Biden could get done even with out control of the legislative branch. Adding to that, the Republicans are in disarray too yet things still got done.
I’m surprised OP didn’t include the largest climate legislation in world history
I want to see another country or region beat us, as this would be welcome competition.
I’m surprised OP didn’t include the largest climate legislation in world history
New Infrastructure Law to Provide Billions to Energy Technology Projects
The bill spends enormous amounts on carbon capture projects that have historically produced lackluster results. It throws even more good money after bad on “clean hydrogen”, an absolute sinkhole of R&D over the last two decades. And then there’s the large investment in battery technology that’s… definitely better than the first two, but still relies on the kind of enormous strip mining and chemical processing projects that got us in the fossil fuels mess to begin with.
$12B on various kinds of carbon capture and $9.5B on hydrogen and another $6.5B on battery advancements, relative to the $0.4B spent on new renewable energy projects. Even our deplorable bankrupt nuclear programs get $2.5B, relative to technologies that have seen some of the best ROI on energy production since the ICE was invented.
Like, sure. Blah blah Trump Worse. But the Infrastructure Reinvestment Act is not a good bill by any other standard than “Better than what Republicans wanted”. Its the same bad California Tech Sector pipe dream ideas we’ve been flushing money down the toilet on since Bill Clinton was President.
I want to see another country or region beat us
You’ll find a line around the block. Spain’s sinking $89B in a renewable overhaul of its grid. France has been doing donuts around the US on nuclear power since the 70s. Italy’s completely overhauling its rail infrastructure (something Americans rip up more often than they rebuild) to use HVDC power.
Where the US tends to lead the pack is in private investment and that’s largely because Solar and Wind power built using cheap foreign imported steel and photovoltaics, have turned our decrepid electricity infrastructure into a gold mine of overpriced retail power. (Something new trade war restrictions may curtail in the next presidency).
The paradox in this is the threat that public investment and efficiency improvements in the grid threaten those profits. If you go around hooking up the fifth-gen molten salt nuclear power stations to an updated smart-balanced American grid, you’re going to tank the incomes of a litany of energy companies.
Nobody with a revenue stream coming from sky high auction-priced electricity coming of the Texas ERCOT system, for instance, wants us to slaughter the golden goose that is $3000 MWh peak electricity prices.
Without hydrogen or battery storage how exactly do you want to store energy?
Until renewable energy inputs approach the base load, there’s nothing to store.
After that, hydrogen is an awful storage medium because it’s so permiable. Even if you’re focused on long term energy storage needs, sodium and nickel batteries are proving far more efficient than hydrogen cells. We’ve known that since the 90s, but continue to invest wasted billion after wasted billion in a dead end technology.
You were also decrying them spending money on battery storage. Yes there will be batteries needed if you want to implement large scale renewables, which it seems is happening even without subsidies. We need batteries for battery electric trains and cars too. Hydrogen isn’t necessarily good enough for grid storage, though maybe it could be one day. It seems it might be an option for vehicles in the cases where batteries don’t work such as in cold weather or for vehicles that need to travel great distances. Batteries also aren’t an option for planes yet and hydrogen could help here too.
You also complain about them spending money on advanced nuclear reactors. You need nuclear until you have sufficient grid storage. That’s an unfortunate fact.
I am against them using money on carbon capture from fossil fuel plants. Direct air carbon capture could actually be useful technology though. If not today then someday in the future. We won’t know if we don’t put money towards it.
You were also decrying them spending money on battery storage.
Relative to the volume spent on generation, yes.
You also complain about them spending money on advanced nuclear reactors.
Given the abject failure of Westinghouse to produce a reliable mass production model, it’s an enormous waste of investment.
If nothing else, we’d be better of someone buying existing designs from Areva. But we don’t do that, because we insist on “Buy American” legislation that doesn’t get us any actual product.
Direct air carbon capture could actually be useful technology though.
Not relative to simply reducing the volume of carbon produced, by shifting the composition of the grid.
Not relative to simply reducing the volume of carbon produced, by shifting the composition of the grid.
You understand that there are already too many greenhouse gases, right? By the time we do all of this there will be even more. It’s not like the grid is the only (or even the majority) of greenhouse gases. How do you account for both all the past emmisions and all the future emissions plus emissions from other sources?
Given the abject failure of Westinghouse to produce a reliable mass production model, it’s an enormous waste of investment.
If nothing else, we’d be better of someone buying existing designs from Areva. But we don’t do that, because we insist on “Buy American” legislation that doesn’t get us any actual product.
The main alternatives being French and Chinese reactor designs. I can understand why the USA doesn’t want to use Chinese reactors, we in the UK made a similar decision and went with French designs instead if I am remembering correctly. I wouldn’t be against the USA using French designs. The thing is though I can’t see how more research could possibly be a bad thing, we have much work to do in both fission and fusion technologies. Putting all our bets in China or France might not be the best idea.
You understand that there are already too many greenhouse gases, right?
The rate at which we produce green house has exceeded the rate at which it is absorbed and fixed.
Carbon capture attempts to accelerate the rate of carbon fixing at a very high per-ton economic cost. Meanwhile, turning off fossil plants and replacing them with renewable energy reduces the rate of per-ton generation at a comparably low cost.
If you’re on a sinking ship, there’s little point in bailing when you haven’t plugged the hole.
I can understand why the USA doesn’t want to use Chinese reactors
Pure reactionary xenophobia. Chinese thorium reactors are cutting edge, and we’re adding degree points to the global average by not adopting it ASAP.
Putting all our bets in China or France might not be the best idea.
Putting money on Westinghouse has consistently cost us enormously.
Batteries on trains are not really needed if the rail is electrified. In Europe we have them everywhere. And better public transport reduces the need for cars. And ebikes can be the solution for many uses. It only takes thinking outside the car box.
It only takes thinking outside the car box.
I don’t even drive and even I know cars, lorries, tractors, and so on are all necessary in some parts of society. You can’t use public transport if you are miles away from the next house or the nearest town. Rural areas need transport too.
I know the problem in rural zones. I live in one. But if they can reduce the car dependency in cities and to some extend in big towns that’s a lot of car batteries that don’t have to be build.
And just as a note, there are electric tractors. Still small but…
Electrified rail is expensive and has safety issues. It’s the best option for long distances for sure, but here in the UK we are still trying to electrify the main rail lines, the branch lines and city lines aren’t even in the cards. Being able to recharge trains at stations with rapid charging is the best option for branch and commuter rail services not already on electrified rail (most of them). If we can do that using something other than lithium batteries that would be great. Sodium seems promising. Also I am in Europe you muppet. It also doesn’t solve grid scale storage, which is something we need. I am hoping iron oxide batteries work out for the grid scale storage tbh.
UK has a problem with rails since Thatcher (IIRC).I
PS: stop insulting people. Thank you.
All climate change bills are lipservice if we dont address the core problem, infinite growth capitalism.
If it’s not perfect we should do nothing you’re right. /S
You want to address big problems? We need more Democrats in control of the Congress and executive branch. Republicans will always push us back untill their platform changes.
The second part of your statement is the problem. We dont JUST need more Democrats. We need BETTER Democrats.
Like I said, these 1/300th steps ARE THE COMPROMISE.
The current trajectory, even with Democrats in charge, is certain death of Humanity due to Climate change. Republicans will just do it faster.
Which is why we should be working on both.
Well do you want it to happen faster?
You have to shift the Overton Window to democratic issues and then we’ll actually have a chance to vote in better ones
The overton window has moved right every election since FDR, even under Democrats. Its the ratchet effect. If they dont go left when in power, then the right gets to define what is normal or not.
Better Democrats > more Democrats > Republicans
I’ll take a Manchin over a Republican, if it’s a hopelessly red district for example.
If you have more Democrats in power you can start to filter out the conservative and moderate Democrats. When we have the thinest majority possible, you can’t be picky with what gets passed as you need agreement from the full spectrum of Democrats. Manchin sucked as a Democrat. But he was vital in getting legislation passed that a Republican in his position wouldn’t pass.
Bringing this back to your original response, you’re complaining that any progress is bad if it doesn’t address the core issue, and I still disagree with that. Any progress is better than none and isn’t “lip service”, this is just how US government in reality works, you keep making larger more incremental steps. Our current steps aren’t sufficient, in that I believe you and I agree, but there will hopefully be better, stronger legislation to address root problems.
If both paths are resulting in a radical shift in human life, if not its outright destruction, then now, there really is no point on debating which evil is lesser.
You neoliberals are actually insane on the climate issue.
So then why are you debating? You should accept your destiny that the world will end. The rest of us in reality understand that you need to work for change, be happy for our victories and continue to push for better.
You seem to think crying in Lemmy that both parties suck and shouldn’t be supported will actually do something.
I’m saying that neither party is working towards making that change, so we need to do something else. Ideally, we make the Democratic Party take it seriously. That seems like the only viable path out of this.
By accepting the status quo, you are accepting that nobody is working for the needed changes required.
You are straight to givings dems a pass on this issue.
Fucking pro democrat propaganda is rampant lately. Anyone who dares to criticize the hillary clinton party is immediately a fascist. Your two party system is broken and this election is only a symptom.
Israeli DNC bots in overdrive. They would rather go full tankie MAGA mode than face reality.
Your two party system is broken
We know this, but that doesn’t prevent voting blue from being the best route to changing it
How many times they had the presidency and the congress and haven’t changed shit? They don’t want to improve your politics because they ate all rich fucks who got rich off of your hard work.
How many times they had the presidency and the congress and haven’t changed shit?
In the past two decades? Maybe 4 years total, less than that. And Congress was on a razor edge margin last time.
The first time was under Obama and we got the ACA, which forced health insurance to cover cancer patients (who were kicked off in the middle of treatment before).
The second time was just recently where we got all the Biden Administration accomplishments listed in this chat. Infrastructure. IRS funding for wealthy tax cheats. Cheaper prescription drugs. Weed. The list goes on.
What’s that? You weren’t genuinely asking? You actually don’t know or care about any of this? Ok cool…
No change >> making things worse
Voting blue is the best route to maintain it. It’s likely it would get worse under Trump, sure, but the Democrats have no material interests in going against their donors.
Outside pressure gets change.
True, but not voting doesn’t apply pressure. Voting 3rd party might but it’s a very risky move.
I never suggested it did, lol.
Oh boy more libshit lesser evilism! My favorite!
They feed you table scraps and y’all loose your damn minds. How about forcing a seat at the table instead
They feed you table scraps and y’all loose your damn minds. How about forcing a seat at the table instead
Just the perpetually cucked liberals who live in an NPR fever dream. Its at least better than reddit in this regard where its all libs engaged in an MC Escher circle jerk with Rachel Maddow at the center.
We at least have some commenters in touch with reality here.
Don’t hate on NPR they’re better than most news in the US. But like all news sources you do need to actually think, not just accept it.
NPR is straight Zionist liberal propaganda nothing more. They lied about the death of Aaron Bushnell and his motivation.
The Genocide in Gaza has unmasked all these brainwashing trash outlets.
You don’t listen to NPR, how would you know?
It’s quoted right in my comment. They were one of the few that lied about Aaron Bushnell.
Only idiots are saying both sides are the same, but the only way to make Biden look good is to compare him to Trump. Such a low bar.
Lowering insulin prices is great, but its just another bandaid on the gaping, infected wound that is the US healthcare system. What happened to the public option that candidate Biden talked about so much?
Lowering cannabis to schedule 3 is a step in the right direction, now we can have legitimate legal studies on the drug. But this doesn’t have to go in baby steps, he could have just descheduled it. We will still be arresting and prosecuting and jailing, ruining lives and wasting loads of taxpayer dollars.
The infrastructure bill is just clearing the maintenance backlog, we still have no real plans for high speed rail. Our infrastructure is 10-15 years behind China and falling further behind.
And it was Sanders who actually got the Insulin reduction through, Biden just kind of accepted it as a win once it became inevitable.
People’s memory is so freaking short.
That’s how all of this works. Trump would have refused to sign it had it been brought to his desk. The president at best can block bills or try to set an agenda as party leader. Everything else relies on the house and Senate. Which we should remember they gave Sanders more power and important committee placement just for this reason.
I voted for Sanders in the primary twice. I would have loved to see him as president. However I think he’s been more productive as a Democrat senator than he realistically would have been able to as president.
Well we will never know because the DNC decided they get to pick the candidate not the people
If you have proof of that you should come forward with it. All of those pissy whining and moaning people who’ve been making these claims all these years will thank you.
I voted for Sanders twice in the primary. But even I’m not delusional enough to still be making these claims this far on. As much as I hate to say it Clinton and Biden did both win the Democratic primaries. Neither one of them were my first pics. But they won fair and square no matter what you are trying to will to come in to being.
You voted for Sanders twice and didn’t follow any of the legal proceedings or statements actually on record from the DNC? I don’t know what kind of slack jawed political corespondent you think you are but obviously you’re misinformed. The very fact you’re disingenuous and negatively insulting with your reply says it all. They won the Democratic primaries, sure. Fair and square? No fucking way.
I did. I simply don’t have to lie and misrepresent things like accelerationist Marxist leninists do 🙂
lol you’re like the perfect Lemmy parody at this point. Even got some name calling in because I have an account on .ml? You’re a child.
For anyone else, lets go to the DNC’s responses when questioned on whether their elections are fair and balanced
we could have voluntarily decided that, Look, we’re gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way. That’s not the way it was done. But they could have. And that would have also been their right… - DNC attorney Bruce Spiva. DNC lawyers have argued and continue to argue that the Democratic Party doesn’t owe anyone a fair process. It has every right to disregard its own rules or interpret its rules how it wants because it is a private organization
Bruce Spiva, representing the DNC, made the argument that would eventually carry the day: … as he explained how the DNC worked, Spiva made a hypothetical argument that the party wasn’t really bound by the votes cast in primaries or caucuses. “The party has the freedom of association to decide how it’s gonna select its representatives to the convention and to the state party,” said Spiva. “Even to define what constitutes evenhandedness and impartiality really would already drag the court well into a political question and a question of how the party runs its own affairs. The party could have favored a candidate. I’ll put it that way.”
We do have plans for highspeed rail, we’re building it in California, Navada, Florida, and the north east corridor right now, with plans to extend the network and add new lines.
Biden has also been funding renewable energy, and fighting inflation, forgiving student debt, and providing funding for first time home buyers.
We absolutely still need a public option for healthcare, and to decriminalize cannabis, but I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit. Biden has done more to help unions than Clinton or Obama. He’s been getting a lot done with a divided congress.
In 2008, both China and the US announced competing high speed rail initiatives.
According to wikipedia, China now has 43,000 km of high speed rail. The US has 80 km of high speed rail.
Yes Cali has plans for high speed rail, its pretty much the same plan from 2008.
And going down your list- renewable energy, fighting inflation, student debt forgiveness, homebuyer assistance - all of these are tepid, surface level initiatives that do not solve the underlying problems. So you’re right, I dont give Biden much credit.
Man, the self-righteous delusion going on in this place.
Libs are SOOO desperate to believe something other than reality (not you, your haters).
In 2008
Check calendar
As it turns out, as the date changes the world changes as well. Sometimes you can’t have it all, sometimes plans have to change.
Sorry you don’t like the progress we have made 👉👈
I’m not asking for “it all”, I don’t expect it to be perfect. I’m just pointing out the glaring contrast- China successfully built high speed rail, and the US has failed (so far)
I dont like the progress we have made because I believe in the promise of America. America can do so much better. We should be building rail just as fast as China, but instead we are building at 1% of their pace and people like you call it “progress”.
I agree with everything you said here except America having promise. America doesn’t have promise, it’s been holding the world back for a long time now, and bullying all the other nations. It would be best for it to crash and burn like all the other nations it made crash and burn.
Mask off “leftist” moment here
Can you actually say I am wrong? America is known for modeling in foreign affairs, sponsoring coups and starting civil wars, and just straight up invading places. You’re even worse than China, and China has a bad track record.
I think the fact I am English has as much bearing on this opinion as being left-adjacent. My country helped form the United States, and many of us (not just leftists) are disturbed at what has happened since we were kicked out. I mean it’s a common stereotype here that Americans are dumb, fat, and racist.
but the only way to make Biden look good is to compare him to Trump
In a recent survey of 154 historical scholars measuring presidential ranking through the accomplishments of all 45 presidents, Biden ranked 14th, while Trump ranked dead last.
Its easy to say Trump makes another presidential option look good, because that’s absolutely true. But it’s a little dishonest to say that Biden’s not a decent president with a list of accomplishments that stand independent of Trump.
decent president
Personally, I believe Biden forfeited any claims to decency when he went on national television and lied to the American people about seeing pictures of 40 beheaded babies. This gruesome story, proved false by any serious accounting of Oct. 7th, was told to justify the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
But I guess I’m just an idealist.
You’re right, totally the exact same as trump
Using Trump as an excuse for deplorable behavior is not a good look. We need to do better than a race to the bottom.
I like the royal “we” like as a collective we all are capable of doing better. Look around. We are fighting just so we don’t get an actual fascist.
As long as half the nation wants someone like Trump, we have to do what it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen, because if it does we may not be able to pick someone better next time.
“A little dishonest”
A lot more than a little.
What happened to the public option that candidate Biden talked about so much?
Pray tell, how would Biden get that passed with the current political setting?
Biden is a president, not a king, he can’t just deschedule marijuana unilaterally without causing problems, he needs Congress to help. Look at your answer to my first question to see how that gets done. Some info: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/20/over-80-groups-urge-biden-administration-end-federal-prohibition-marijuana-and
Our infrastructure is 10-15 years behind China and falling further behind.
Again, look at your answer to my first question.
It feels like you want Biden to fix everything, while completely unaware of how our government works. Which brings us to why people compare Trump to Biden, because people will have to vote for one or the other in the election. Is you want better and more extensive changes, vote for the Democrats that can only take baby steps at the moment. When they get more control on Congress, they can make bigger steps.
When Biden was elected, Dems controlled both houses of congress. What stopped him from pushing his public option plan then?
What is stopping him from pushing to deschedule cannabis completely? Even if congress gets in his way, people would give him massive credit for actually trying.
You say we need to elect more Democrats to make bigger steps, but we did that in 2008 and 2020 and still we get baby steps. Why?
If the president is so powerless, then why are people worried about project 2025 and “dictator on day 1” Trump? Surely they must be confused, because the adults in the room like you know that the president is actually unable to pass meaningful legislation.
Please educate me since I’m completely unaware how our government works.
When Biden was elected, Dems controlled both houses of congress. What stopped him from pushing his public option plan then?
This is completely false. They had control of the House, and a tie breaker for the Senate. But that didn’t matter much because they need 60 senators to pass legislation without Republicans impeding.
What is stopping him from pushing to deschedule cannabis completely? Even if congress gets in his way, people would give him massive credit for actually trying.
It would be the judiciary that gets in the way as well as Republicans. You’d have people saying Biden is an idiot and only doing this to make it seem he’s trying while not actually accomplishing anything. He’s making meaningful progress now. Congress is who can actually fix our marijuana laws in a federal sense.
You say we need to elect more Democrats to make bigger steps, but we did that in 2008 and 2020 and still we get baby steps. Why?
Your premise is wrong again. If you have few Democrats in control you get baby steps. If centrist and progressives had the house, and 60 senators and the executive branch, larger steps would be taken. That’s not happened in about 24 years or longer. Republicans have had that more times so you can see the progress they’ve made at bettering out country these last 24 years.
If the president is so powerless, then why are people worried about project 2025 and “dictator on day 1” Trump? Surely they must be confused, because the adults in the room like you know that the president is actually unable to pass meaningful legislation.
For the same reason it’s easier and faster to shoot someone in the face than it is to arrest them, put them on trial and imprison them, Trump isn’t going about playing by the rules, and he has many Republicans supporting him. If Biden breaks rules, both Republicans and Democrats would step in to fix that.in addition, Trump doesn’t care about what will last, short terms goals are fine with him. Biden wants legislation that will get passed and not struck down by a conservative court.
This is completely false. They had control of the House, and a tie breaker for the Senate. But that didn’t matter much because they need 60 senators to pass legislation without Republicans impeding.
They could have changed the senate rules to do away with the filibuster forever with the simple majority they possessed. They chose not to.
If the president is so powerless, then why are people worried about project 2025 and “dictator on day 1” Trump? Surely they must be confused, because the adults in the room like you know that the president is actually unable to pass meaningful legislation.
If Biden gave the order to eliminate his political opponents, nothing would happen because the amount of Biden fanatics is pretty low. Trump has enough fanatics in his ranks (which include a lot of military/police) that they would just do it, legality be damned. And with the current supreme court legality is a fluid concept in favor of republicans, and they know it.
Dems controlled both houses of congress. What stopped him from pushing his public option plan then?
Manchin and Sinema, mainly, but also the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Forgot already?
then why are people worried about project 2025 and “dictator on day 1” Trump?
Because reasonable people don’t want the president to attempt authoritarian rule in order to progress his agenda. The fact that it is possible to do that is a big fucking issue and yet here we are, watching it happen with Trump. That doesn’t mean Biden should do it. It should not [and cannot be allowed to] happen at all.
60-vote filibuster threshold
Could have been ended forever with a simple majority vote.
If the president is so powerless, then why are people worried about project 2025 and “dictator on day 1” Trump? Surely they must be confused, because the adults in the room like you know that the president is actually unable to pass meaningful legislation.
I can never tell when someone is arguing in bad faith or legitimately saying something off-their-rocker.
Doesn’t senate require at least 60 votes to avoid filibuster?
And 50 + a tiebreaking vote by the vice president to end the Jim Crow filibuster forever.
They’re the same like a hockey team are the same.
I’ve never seen anyone say both sides are the same but lots of people say neither side is acceptable.
I’ve run across the latter too.
They’re the ones you can’t get to admit they’re getting one of these whether they like it or not and try to convince others the worse of the two is more desirable for some fucking reason.
But they’re “leftists” lol.
I’ve never seen anyone who thinks neither candidate is acceptable try to argue for one over the other.
I know personally plenty of people who advocate sitting this one out and some like myself who say we ought to vote third party (psl in my case) though.
I’m really surprised the dyed in the wool true believer dems aren’t pushing for ol genocide Joe to step down at the convention.
like myself who say we ought to vote third party
You’re exactly who I’m talking about then.
You’re getting one of the two in the picture (Dem or Rep nominee). You can help mitigate damage or not. /shrug.
I’ll just go ahead and post my next reply now to save us both some time:
“My vote doesn’t matter because I’m in a $color state” said millions of people.
So what’s your red line? If genocide isn’t enough to get you to turn your back on the democrats at the very least unless they drop Biden from the ticket, how far is too far? How bad can it get before you decide it’s more important to support a third party you actually believe in?
Mine wasn’t even the genocide.
I’m not sure what about the logic of “we’re getting one of these two” isn’t getting through.
- One of these two are going to be elected
- One is clearly better than the other
- Voting for the better of the two has a chance to mitigate damage and has already proven to be a better choice once before
As soon as #2 stops being true I’ll have to reevaluate.
I will celebrate #1 being false if I ever live to see first past the post die in this country but I’m not holding my breath.
I get over what I wish would happen and deal with facts.
Okay, but like I asked, when do you turn your back on that and work toward something else? When do you say to yourself “it doesn’t matter which of these two are better by whatever metric, I won’t stand by and assent to either of them”?
Surely some action by the Biden administration is far enough beyond the pale to make you look for a different option, right?
Even if you took a purely utilitarian approach, at some point both major parties are so far beyond what you consider acceptable that the effect of a third party vote cast with full knowledge that party won’t win is of greater utility than some poison compromise.
Surely some action by the Biden administration is far enough beyond the pale to make you look for a different option, right?
many liberals do not have a cutoff point here. if Democrats were having people executed in the streets, they would argue that more people would be executed in the streets under Republicans, so leftists who don’t vote Democrat are morally bankrupt and effectively on the side of the Republicans.
oh, wait, that’s literally their argument for this election, it’s just that said streets and people happen to not be the good ol’ US of A.
Surely some action by the Biden administration is far enough beyond the pale to make you look for a different option, right?
What other option?
This bullshit is exactly what I was talking about. “C’mon, let’s vote third party. I know we can’t win, but morals.”
And elect Trump? Fuck no.
It doesn’t matter what Democrats do (or attempt in a politically hostile environment that tries to sabotage anything and everything they do), the bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe assholes will ignore it, or flip it and force-jam it into their always lazy, cynical and oh-so-savvy, mediocre narrative.
